Bad breath is something that makes a person feel embarrassed in front of crowd and may also cause anxiety. Medically termed as Halitosis bad breath needs to be treated timely before it causes other oral health issues. There are different mouthwashes, mint flavoured gums, and other products which are designed to combat against bad breath, but they are not the permanent solution indeed.

Poor oral hygiene, health conditions and certain foods are likely to increase the risk of developing bad breath. With proper dental hygiene, you may eliminate the bad breath and improve your oral health. If the self care techniques don’t work for you to combat against bad breath, consulting a dentist is beneficial before it leads to any other serious oral conditions.

What are the Symptoms of Bad Breath?

The condition of bad breath usually varies depending upon the underlying cause of the condition. There are people who are too worried about their breath even if they are having little or no bad breath, while some people are having Bad Breath but still they are not aware. The only sign of Bad Breath is that you release bad odour from your mouth when you speak with someone. To confirm your Bad Breath, you may ask your friend or relative to smell your breath and confirm if your breath really stinks.

What are the Causes of Bad Breath?

There are in fact many possible causes of Bad Breath and this includes:

• Food – When you consume foods the breakdown of food particles usually accumulate around the teeth and this increases bacteria that cause foul odour. Certain foods like garlic, onions, spices and other vegetables can cause bad breath
• Poor Dental Hygiene – If you avoid flossing your teeth regularly and do brushing once daily, you are at risk of developing Bad Breath. Since the food particles remain in mouth and may increase bacteria, you may experience Bad Breath.
• Tobacco Products also cause Bad Breath. Smoking cause foul mouth odour. Tobacco products users and smokers are at higher chance of having Bad Breath.
• Dry Mouth – The food particles are removed effectively by salvia and when you have dry mouth the amount of salvia also reduces. This prevents the particles from flushing out of your mouth and hence Bad Breath is caused.
• Infections in mouth may also cause Bad Breath. Surgical wounds after surgery prevent you from brushing and plague may develop which may release foul smell.
• There are certain nose, mouth and throat conditions which are likely to cause Bad Breath in some people. Medications are also responsible sometime to cause Bad Breath

Diagnosis of Bad Breath

Doctors usually ask you to open your mouth and breath so that they can smell your breath both from nose and mouth and scale the intensity of the odour. Since the back of the tongue is often associated with Bad Breath, doctors would also scrape it so as to rate the odour. Doctors make use of certain medical detectors which help them to determine the chemicals that are responsible for bad breath.

Treatment for Bad Breath

In order to reduce the Bad Breath at home, you are required to avoid developing cavities and lower the risk of gum diseases and practice good oral hygiene at home. The treatment for Bad Breath usually varies depending upon the underlying cause of the condition. If your Bad Breath is caused due to underlying health conditions, then doctors may refer you to primary care physician to treat the underlying conditions and the Bad Breath will eliminate automatically.

• There are mouth rinses and toothpastes available which will be prescribed and you need them to reduce bad breath which is caused due to build-up of plaque on teeth. Mouth rinse is prescribed to kill the bacteria which are also the reason for Bad Breath.
• Doctors may also prescribe dental treatments to treat certain dental conditions like gum diseases which are the prime cause of Bad Breath.